Grinderman

Though Nick Cave had moved from the raw, unsettling post-punk intensity of the Birthday Party toward the measured, often lyrical phrasing heard on The Boatman's Call and No More Shall We Part with the Bad Seeds, the unruly sonic agitator of his earlier years remained active, leading him to launch Grinderman in 2006 as a dedicated vehicle for that persistent impulse. The project originated during 2004 sessions in which Cave was preparing songs for the well-received Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus; weary of composing alone in his home office before handing material to the Bad Seeds, he instead assembled bandmates Martyn Casey on bass, Warren Ellis on violin and guitar, and Jim Sclavunos on drums to develop pieces collectively. As Cave spontaneously shaped lyrics and handled guitar while the others constructed surrounding melodies, the group drifted into bolder, less conventional terrain. The resulting sound fused blues, punk, and no wave into a visceral force that stood apart from the Bad Seeds yet retained the raw drive of earlier breakthroughs, even as the players' seasoned perspective tempered the proceedings. Recognizing the music's distinct character, Cave and his colleagues christened the endeavor Grinderman. In February 2006 the quartet entered a London studio for an intensive stretch of writing and demoing; by April they had selected the strongest tracks and tracked them with producer Nick Launay. The initial Grinderman recording, "No Pussy Blues," appeared online in fall 2006, followed by a limited-edition vinyl pressing of "Get It On" in February 2007 and the full 11-song debut album that spring. The group supported the release with a handful of live appearances, and the album earned both critical praise and commercial traction. The same lineup reassembled in 2009 to cut Grinderman 2, issued in 2010. Cave declared the band's dissolution at an Australian music festival in December 2011, after which Grinderman 2 RMX, a set of remixes drawn from the second album, surfaced in spring 2012.